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G. D. ELDREDGE.'

l SEWING MAGHINBSHUTTL. 110.261,839. Patented Aug. 1, 1882.

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UNITED STATES .PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE D. ELDREDGE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELDREDGESEWING MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SEWING-MACHINE SHUTTLE.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 261,839, dated August1, 1882.

Application led March 19, 1881.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE D. ELDREDGE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of lllinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Sewing-Machine"Shuttles, set i'orth in the followingspeeiiication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, inWhich- Figure'l represents a plan view oi' a shuttle embodying myimprovements; Fig.. 2, a rear end elevation of the same; Fig. 3, avertical section of the same, taken on the line m of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, aside elevation of the saine; Fig. 5, a plan section of the saine, takenon the line y y in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detailed view ot' thetension-spring; Fig. 7, a similarview of` the thread guide andcontroller.

My invention relates to certain thread ten sion and controlling devicesin shuttles for sewing-maohines, and is an improvement upon the shuttledescribed and shown in Letters Patent N o. 232,248, dated September 14,1880.

The invention consists in certain special devices and combinations ofdevices, the con-- struction and operation of which will be hereinatterfully described, and the particular iin provements which I believe to benew and desire to secure by Letters Patent will be more definitelypointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, A represents the shell or case of the shuttle, which,in its main features, is of ordinary construction, and is adapted toreceive the usual bobbin,B. In one ofthe side walls of this case are aslit, a, an dan elongated slot, a', as in the shuttle shown in thepatent mentioned.

The Vtension-spring C is a long thin plate, made of the form shown inFig. 6 of the drawings, and having a sharp bend, c, near its rear end,and an elongated slot, o', at the other end, this slot being enlarged atthe rear. A hole, a2, is made in the rear end wall of the shell, inwhich the rear end of the tension-spring is inserted, this spring beingarranged within the shell, and so that the bend in it will be inward, asshown in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

An adjusting-screw, D, is set transversely in the rear end wall of theshell, the point of (No model.)

vided with an annular groove,f, atits outerend.

The rear end of this plate E is bent twice at right angles, or nearlyso, thereby providing a finger, e, bent inward, by means of which theplate is secured to the shell by inserting this finger in an aperture,a3, in the wall of the shell openin g into the aperture a?, as showniuFig. 5 of the drawings. An aperture, a4, is

also made in the side wall of the shell, through which the pin F ispassed, and the slot in the tensionfspring receives the inner end ofthis pin, as shown in said Fig. 5.

To put the parts in Working position the plate E is first connected tothe shell by inserting the bent finger at its rear endin the apertureprovided for it and then turning, the plate down against the side of theshell, entering the pin Fin its proper seat. The tensionspring C is thenconnected to the pin F by passing the latter through the large end ofits slot, and the plate is then pushed backward, thereby entering itsrear end in the opening provided for it inthe end wall of the shell, thegrooved portion of the pin F at the saine time passing into the narrowend of the slot, and thereby fastening the two plates C and E together.The screw D is turned up against the end of the tensiouspring, therebythrowing the front end of the latterinward, the irst bend in the plateobviously serving as a fulcrum on which the spring vibrates. The bobbinbeing put in place as usual, the thread G is passed out over thetension-spring through the slit a, then forward between the side of theshell and the plate E, above the pin F, out around the end of the plateE, and then out underneath the lower edge of the latter, opposite theslot a', as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

Now, obviously, the tension-spring C has a comparatively long range,nearly the entire length of the spring being utilized from the front endto the fulcrum-bend. The outside plate, E, has also a long range, beingpractically from the point of its attachment to the shell to its frontend, the pin F playing f'reely hack and forth in the side of the shell.This construction enablesme to make these plates very thin, so that theyyield readily, thereby providing a very soft, uniform, and even tensionby reason of the great elasticity given to the tension-spring, and avery nice adjustment is obtained by means of the screw D acting on theshort arm ofthe spring C.

It will be noticed, also, that by arranging my tension-spring inside ofthe shell there is no danger ot' catching the thread as the shuttlemoves back and forth, and the adjusting devices are alll out of the Wayof the thread. The construction and attachment of the guideplate E isalso designed to avoid this difficulty', for it will be noticed that inmy construction thereare no projecting points on which the thread mightbe caughtas the shuttie moves back and forth, a substantiallysmoothsurface being` provided at the side of 'the shuttle. lt will beunderstood, of course,

that the plate E is arranged with reference to the side Wall of theshell so as to admit of the largest thread being passed between it' andthe Wall Without pinching.

In the devices shown in Letters Patent 232,248 the spring-plate must bemade of material sutliciently thick to allow the rear end to becounterbored for the head of the fasteningscrew,in order that the headmay be sunk flush with the spring, and then the plate is reduced orgraduated toward its front end to make it elastic or yielding, so as toact as a tension'plate. This is done by milling and grinding, and muchdifficulty is experienced in keeping the springs uniform, so that it isalmost impossiblev to obtain au even tension. Another objection has beenfound in using this patented shuttle, on account of the great liabilityof the thread to slip over the post, which passes through thespring-plate near its front end as the shuttle is reciprocatcd, therebybreaking the thread, and also the liability of the thread being drawnunder the pivoted end of the spring-plate. rlhe rigidity of the springhas also proved anotherdet'ect, which produces a too heavy tension onlarge thread When changing from tine to coarse, and vice versa, eachchange requiring a special adjustment. In my improvelnents I haveovercome all of these defects, and my improved'shuttle has been found byactual use to be entirely satisfactory. It Will be noticed that thespringplates in my construction are of uniform thickness, and the plateE may be stamped out of steel of the proper thickness and qualityWithout the necessity ot' hardening or tempering.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

l. The shell A,in combination with the tension spring', bent near itsrear end to form a fulcrum, with both ends free to vibrate about saidfulcrum Within certain lilnits, and arranged inside ofthe shell,substantially as described.

2. The shell A, in combination with the tension-sprin g, bent asdescribed, and having each end free to vibrate Within certain limits,and the adjustin g-screw, substantially as described.

3. The shell A, provided with the apertures a2 a3, in combination withthe thread-guide E, provided with the bent finger e, by which it isattached to theshell,substantially as described.

4. The shell A, in combination With the tension-spring O, provided witha bend, c, at one end, and at the other connected loosely to the shellto permit free vibration, and thread-guide E, constructed as specified,substantially as described.

GEORGE D. ELDREDGE. Witnesses:

JNO. C. MACGREGOR, ALICE HoLLIsTER.

